He was so busy looking at either side of the medal
that he lost track of the medal itself
– James Steerforth ( © 2008 )
This aphorism-like thingy came to me this morning as I was about home from my morning walk.
I’d practiced looking at the down side in the early morning, half awake, half dazed, half still immersed in some drawn-out, blurry dream about my ability/inability to participate in this world.
The title came as an afterthought and is, of course, a reference to the song by Joni Mitchell:
I’ve looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It’s life’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know life at all …
Here she is, performing “Both Sides Now” in 1970: